Nora Logan is a writer and the host of the podcast So, Life Wants You Dead about the intersection of illness and creativity. Before becoming a writer, Nora worked in film + TV production in late-night comedy.
Nora is currently co-writing the feature script LITERALLY DYING with Kat Mills Martin, a dark comedy about a woman who undergoes a liver transplant and discovers that facing death was way easier than finding her purpose in life.
Nora writes a substack called Serenity Never, where she writes essays on creativity, spirituality, food, somatics, the patient experience and more. Nora also facilitates workshops and classes in NYC, where she is based.
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I’m a writer and producer with a background in comedy, fashion, travel, beauty and wellness. I’m also a breathwork + meditation teacher and patient advocate. Above all, I love to tell stories.
I've had a somewhat unconventional path to finding my career: in 2009 I graduated with an MA in Art History and French Literature (widely considered the most employable degree available). Luckily for me, the economy was burning to the ground that year and although I tried carpet-bombing London and New York with my CV, no-one banged the door down with job offers. I was forced to get creative about my career.
After a stint in PR writing press releases about cashmere loo roll and Christmas pudding I threw caution to the wind (which only a 23-year-old with an underdeveloped frontal lobe might) and moved to Bali to work in garment production. Creatively inspired by the magic quality of the island of the gods, I started my own jewellery company called Pure Dead Brilliant, aiming to convert the masses to share my passion for oversized statement pieces. PDB launched just as itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny knuckle rings and earrings took the market by storm. My architectural bracelets and slogan-stamped knuckle rings were meant for a different decade. But I learned a lot, and what I loved most about running a business (besides designing) was writing my website content and press releases. I liked it so much I did it for friends and fellow business owners, writing bios, press releases and product descriptions.
They say that in your 20s you look for love in all the wrong places. I moved to New York (very tanned, no money) and still dreamt of making a writing career happen, so the obvious next step was to work as a production assistant on various film sets around NYC. I fetched Nicki Minaj salads, watched Tina Fey film her final episode of 30 Rock in the sweltering September heat from a respectful 2-block distance, and witnessed Adam Driver repeatedly attempt to manoeuvre rollerblades in Bushwick. Mostly I smoked a lot of cigarettes on street corners at 3 am and didn’t once put pen to paper professionally.
In 2015 I was working in TV production when I fell ill with a mysterious case of acute liver failure. It was a wild ride of operations, near-death experiences and multiple hospitalisations. As a result, I am now a liver transplant recipient committed to helping end the organ donor waiting list in my lifetime. I talk about all things transplant on my personal blog: here.
With my writing work, I’m passionate about empowering the patient community to tell their stories and engage with their community. Faced with the prospect of losing my life, I decided there was no point in wasting more time just dreaming about writing for a living and started where I was (which, at the time, was my hospital bed).
